Deadline: December 15, 2017
Applications for the 2017 New Media Writing Prize are now open. This 8th edition of The New Media Writing Prize showcases exciting and inventive stories that integrate a variety of formats, platforms, and digital media.
The prize encourages and promotes the best in new media writing and is leading the way towards the future of the ‘written’ word and storytelling. In the past six years, the NMWP has attracted entries from the very best and most innovative writers in the field.
Prizes
There are four prizes for 2017:
- The if:book New Media Writing Prize of £1000 donated by if:book UK.
- The Unicorn Student Prize of 3 months paid internship (or £500 in cash if the winner cannot undertake the placement) at Unicorn Training, Bournemouth, UK, working with Unicorn’s writing and design team.
- The Dot Award of £500 to develop a new project. Donated by if:book UK.
- The Gorkana Journalism Award, donated by Gorkana. This consists of two awards:
- The UK award, and
- The International award, both £500 for the winner.
Eligibility
- Anyone can apply. Whether you’re a student, a professional, an artist, a writer, a developer, a designer or an enthusiast, the competition is open to all.
- It’s also an international competition, open to all outside the UK.
- Entries do need to be in English.
Selection Criteria
- For the if:book Prize and Unicorn Student Prize, the judges will be looking for the following:
- Good storytelling, fiction or non-fiction. It could be an innovative short story, novel, poem, documentary or transmedia work using words, images, film or animation with audience interaction.
- The literary work should be easily accessible for readers and viewers on platforms such as iPhones, PC, the web and mobile devices.
- Your literary work should have effective use of interactive elements.
- The potential to reach out to a wide audience (i.e. not just specialist interest groups).
- For the Dot Award:
- The prize will be awarded for a writing project idea which shows promise and practicability.
- Original and exciting literary work inspired by the affordances of the web, blogs, apps, social media etc.
- For the Gorkana Journalism Awards:
- Innovative stories based on factual material and featuring digital media are considered.
- Interactive documentaries, multimedia features, and serious games are all considered.
- Entries must incorporate new media technologies and platforms.
Application
- Each entry for the if:book, and Unicorn Student prizes should be submitted by email to [email protected].
- Entries for the Dot Award should be emailed to [email protected]
- Entries for Gorkana Journalism award should be emailed to [email protected]
- Each entry should contain the following information within the text of the entry email:
- Title of the work;
- Entrant’s contact details: name, email address, telephone number and postal address.
- For joint entries, all entrants’ contact details must be provided with identification of the main entrant for contact purposes;
- Entrant’s short autobiography (50-100 words). For joint entries, all entrants must provide their autobiographies.
- Entrants who wish to submit a work for the Student Prize must provide a proof of identity which should be displayed in the body of the entry email, e.g. a scanned copy of entrant’s Student Union ID card or University enrollment number, which will be authenticated at the organiser’s discretion.
- Each emailed entry should contain an active URL for the judges to access your work. However, if your entry is for viewing on a mobile phone, wearable, or other electronic devices, please provide clear instructions on how to view your piece.
- Make sure you include the word MAIN, STUDENT, DOT, or JOURNALISM in the subject line of the email, so we know which award/s you wish to be considered for.
- Students can submit to all of the categories; shortlisted journalistic pieces are also considered for the Main Prize.
- Deadline for the if:book Prize, Gorkana Journalism Awards, and Dot Award is November 24, 2017. Deadline for Unicorn Student Prize is December 15, 2017.
- Shortlisted entrants will be invited to the Awards Ceremony on January 17, 2018 at Bournemouth University.
- Winners will be announced at the ceremony.
- View the applications rules, terms and conditions here.
For more information, visit New Media Writing Prize.
